When we think of the fight for labor rights we often think of images of blue-collar workers being taken advantage of by "the man." Cesar Chavez's farm workers, or even the fictional "Norma Rae" come to mind. Rarely do we think of those working in glamorous professions in which the highest earners can make tens of thousands of dollars a day. Yet on the heels of New York Fashion Week it was announced that British Trade Union Equity has developed guidelines to ensure "safe and healthy working conditions" for models participating in London Fashion Week, which just wrapped up. The move is a watershed moment for the fashion industry that for years has gone unregulated, at times with disastrous results for its workers worldwide, many of them underage girls.
The new documentary film Picture Me chronicles the lives of several young models who have worked with top tier designers. Some of the stories are disturbing, to say the least. In a recent interview about the film one model recounted being burned by a photographer's bulb that rendered her unable to work for months yet she had no health insurance and received no worker's comp and was advised not to cause problems by litigating. There are also tales of models being sexually harassed and even raped by prominent men within the industry and being advised not to expose such behavior because it will harm their careers. (It is widely acknowledged that supermodel Stephanie Seymour had a long-term sexual relationship with John Casablancas, the former head of Elite, one of the largest modeling agencies in the world, that began when she was 16 and he was 41.)
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